The gardens and greens around the palace are just as stunning as the palace itself. We were quite early in the season (late April) so most of the flowers were not yet in bloom. We also didn’t have a lot of time. I suppose that is the downside of organised travel: you have a timeContinue reading “Palácio da Pena part 3: beautiful gardens”
Category Archives: Portugal
Palácio da Pena part 2: a glimpse of the past
There is heaps to explore at the Pena Palace. As if the outside wasn’t fascinating enough, the inside was pretty amazing as well. Beautiful tiles, ornate arched ceilings, lusciously decorated rooms…this palace has it all. I do wonder what it must have been like all those centuries ago, when this palace was a lot moreContinue reading “Palácio da Pena part 2: a glimpse of the past”
Palácio da Pena part 1: a fascinating place
We had about a week in Portugal, so we figured we’d have plenty of time to explore a bit of the area outside the big city as well. We’d both heard great things about the Pena Palace in Sintra and it was soon decided that this was a ‘must visit’ for the both of us. Initially, we thought about taking publicContinue reading “Palácio da Pena part 1: a fascinating place”
Straight out of Narnia
Maybe not the absolute perfectly sharp photo, but I love the composition with the lamp post and the trees behind it. It reminds me of the first Narnia movie, when they first enter Narnia and meet mr. Tumnus. It’s been quite a while since I saw that movie so I don’t remember all the details, but seeing this lampContinue reading “Straight out of Narnia”
Just a few daisies
As we were walking from the Torre de Belém to the Monasteiro dos Jerónimos, we walked across a grass field with heaps of these cute and brightly coloured Spanish daisies. So pretty!
Mosteiro do Jerónimos
In the afternoon of our second day in Lisbon, we decided to visit the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (Jerónimos Monastery)…and it was amazing! Think beautiful hallways with luscious ornate columns, central courtyard, gargoyle type ornaments on the walls…it was pretty darn spectacular. The monastery had several floors, towers, pretty lookouts over the courtyard, and even a chapelContinue reading “Mosteiro do Jerónimos”
Rolling in the deep
On that same first day in Lisbon, when we went to Belém, the weather was rather overcast. It cleared up beautifully later in the day, but at first it looked something like in this photo. While it has mostly grey tones, I feel that those big ominous clouds give the photo that little bit of *oompf*. IContinue reading “Rolling in the deep”
Torre de Belém
We continued our way along the Tagus river to the Belém Tower, a fortified tower from the 16th century in Manueline style. It was possible to go up the tower to enjoy a view over the river, but we decided not to. The queue was quite long, the weather had cleared up beautifully (so weContinue reading “Torre de Belém”
Alive and Trekking 